Humanoid robotics seeks to combine, in one machine, the greatest number of human-being-like characteristics. The first aim is to approximate the human by the external appearance, the morphology or the movements. The humanoid robot generally comprises several motorized articulations capable of moving, by means of an electric motor, one limb relative to another. The most advanced humanoid robots thus comprise legs, arms or hands. They are capable of walking or of dancing in the manner of a human being. They are capable of manipulating, in their hands, objects of various forms. Another aim is to approximate the human by its behavior and its intelligence. The artificial intelligence of robots is increasingly successful, allowing an increasingly complex interaction with a human user.
There are many possible applications of humanoid robots. Applications in the industrial field have been envisaged, for example for accessing contaminated zones presenting a risk to people. Numerous applications in the health field are also envisaged, for example for attending people exhibiting a deficiency. Use by a wider public for domestic purposes is also envisaged.
The assumption of large-scale deployment intended for the widest public is generating new constraints, for example industrial constraints, regulatory constraints or constraints concerning dependability. The design of the most recent generations of robots now incorporates a set of constraints to meet emerging regulations. For example, the robot intended for the consumer must not present any safety risk, both in the case of normal operation and in the case of a failure. Maintenance operations have to be able to be performed, by an experienced operator or simply by a user. There is an aim to take into account post-sale-related constraints in the design of the robot, for example to allow easy diagnostics and simple and quick repairability. The robot must also be able to be transported, for example from its place of production to its place of operation, while withstanding mechanical or vibratory stresses without risk of damage.